Is he the answer to this conundrum?
For
Against
4. Not had a transfer between 2 Premier League clubs
5. Not a current Premier League player
The Checklist
(The origins of these clues can be found here)
1. Is he English?
2. Is he currently married?
3. Has he played under at least 4 managers?
4. Has he had a transfer between 2 Premiership clubs?
5. Was he a Premier League player in January 2011?
6. Has he played with a group of French players at one club?
7. Has he played with a striker who refused to move unless the pass went exactly where he wanted it?
8. Did he play for one manager for a considerable amount of time who was great before losing it?
9. Has he played for a manager who lost the dressing room?
10. Does he have a friend who plays for Liverpool?
11. Might he think Harry Redknapp is the Messiah?
12. Has he appeared as a pundit? (TSF probably doesn’t do so)
13. Did he have a long term girlfriend as a younger player?
14. Had/has a strong father figure.
15. Not an Arsenal or Man City player (at end of 2010-11 season).
16. Did he play a match at some point towards the end of March or first few days of April 2011?
17. Not a keeper.
18. Has a daughter.19. He played with Paolo Di Canio –removed by public demand 20. Someone who’s got a chat about ‘another season’ coming up -see revealing tweet post
21. He’s been involved in a last day relegation battle
22. He’s played for a newly promoted Premier League club
23. Has been subject to a deadline day transfer
24. TSF is Caucasian
25. Has a good friend who is African and has played for a team in Russia
26. Has been diagnosed with depression
27. Played in the lower leagues at start of career
28. Played against Liverpool for a lower league club
29. Was one of the best players in a very successful team
30. Played for a club that got themselves in financial trouble
31. Plays the Paul Scholes role
32. Played under a captain who will go down as one of most successful in the club’s history, without having earned it
33. Played under a stand-in captain wearing a large tubi-grip with a marker pen-written ‘C’ as captain’s armband
34. Has played as captain
35. Has played for a club who promoted their assistant manager to manager (and went on to get bad results)
36. Not a Liverpool fan
37. Played in a team that won promotion to the Premiership
38. Following on from clue 21: That team got relegated due to a goal going in at the other end of the country in the dying minutes of the final game of the season
39. Clue 38 was his last game for that club
40. His wage at the time of clues 38 and 39 was the best part of £100,000 per month
41. He went on to play in the Premiership again after the relegation in clue 38
One response to “Clarke Carlisle”
By chance I have just read Carlisle’s autobiography straight after “The Secret Footballer”. (Both bought remaindered in the cheapo book-shop. I’m classy, me.) The similarities are striking.
I’ve never been entirely convinced that the list of clues are entirely useful as a guide; if they were, I’m sure the identity would be obvious by now. And there seem to be lots of indications that experiences and incidents are generalised – they happened, but maybe not to him or in that particular way. In fact, his article about getting his second book published is all about this blurring of experience.
So I haven’t bothered going down the checklist of clues to work them all out, though a brief glance shows a number of them do seem to match. However, the general professional profile does seem to fit him. An very experienced pro coming to the end of a career that spanned all divisions; relatively recent top level experience with a couple of clubs; lots of clubs and lots of managers.
But it is his personal profile that is the clearest fit. A highly competitive individual who seems to have a sense of underachievement in the game largely due to misbehaviour and personal issues earlier in his career; a sense of having come to grips with his demons and a grasp of the real priorities of life; a small-town working-class lad who wanted to go on and better himself socially and culturally, while still relishing the dumbed-down blokey cameraderie of the footballer’s life; having earned massive amounts of money which is somehow no longer there; his position as head of the PFA requiring him to have developed all sorts of opinions and the means of expressing them, as well as giving him access to all sorts of contacts within the game and stories about incidents that have happened away from the public gaze.
The real clinchers seem to me to be the personal attitudes he expresses, particularly around his depression and its effect on his career. Then there is Carlise’s aim to go on into a career in the media now that he has retired and, in fact, was studying for a degree in sports media while still playing, as well as writing and punditery. Interestingly, this season, since he has retired, the TSF articles have revolved more on commenting on issues in the game, rather than the actual playing. (The one about feeling betrayed by Gordon Taylor I felt seemed particularly heartfelt.)
As for the writing itself, the style is almost an exact copy, give or take a bit of editorial direction. But more importantly – he actually did write it himself. Off the top of my head, the only other footballer’s ‘autobiography’ I can remember without the ‘massive thanks to my mate the journalist who took down my thoughts and put them on paper’ dedication was written by Danny Blanchflower. We really shouldn’t underestimate the difficulty of writing a book, which the TSF has done. And so has Clarke Carlisle.
Oh yes, and the name of his book? “You don’t know me, but . . . A footballer’s life”. Hmm. Try re-arranging that into a well-known phrase or saying.